Well, I've seen all kinds of Valentine's colors and so far, I have to say, the high contrast colors are still my favs. Today has been a challenging day for me, pretty much on all fronts, so this card brought me lots of joy, to say the least. I think I am sending it to myself!

I just loved taking the photo above "from the airplane" ...

This one is just to show you the card really does have a front!

The flower was a new discovery...I decided even I can make a homemade flower! So I took out some of my crochetted lace and just started twirling and twirling and voila! It began looking flower-like. Now, how to hold it together? Aha...thanks Stampin' Up! Grabbed a button with the nifty brads on the back and poof - a flower. And don't ya just love SU's new Valentine's paper? I think I'm about to order 2 more sets.

But the real love for me was the wool. Since purchasing my felt machine, I have fallen in love with soft wool. This one takes the cake. It is so cuddly and soft. I am looking for a sweater-knitter now. It is just like a lambskin rug!!!

And Paint! I had totally forgotten about painting my stamps with my folk art paint. So I got them out for this set from CTMH and just painted away! I also painted the Maja chipboard. It was so fun. Then I glued and glittered the heart.

And all in all...perhaps this is my favorite! Or at minimum, I may just give it to "my favorite!"

It is so wonderful to be able to catalogue my cards; I feel like my mojo is sneaking back! Using my new stamps from both Stampin' Up! and Papertrey, I've created many cards and wall hangings in the last few days. Today I'm featuring the first one. This was SO much fun! Finding all the elements that matched together...and don't you just love the itsy bitsy new love stamp from Stampin' Up!

I'm quite a stamp hound, so the pink background stamps are from close to 15 years ago - never been used! I thought they'd look just peachy [or pinky] behind the poppy red ink from Papertrey. And the paper...in love again! This is the new Valentine's pack from Stampin' Up!

Well, love away! I hope you enjoy my wall hanging. I made it for a close friend. She is very special, works extremely hard coaching skating, being a pharmacy tech, a great mom, wife.

I'm going with her Sunday from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. out of town, to watch 25 of her students in a skating competition!

Yay! Road Trip!!

Please double click for close ups.

I love my hardware hearts from Michael's and these background stamps...couldn't be better than that for what I had in mind! {gosh I sound self absorbed in this post!!!}

Don't you love this sparkly ribbon above? It is from Walmart. Also, the button {thread} is the designer paper cut into skinny minny pieces!

I LOVE the font in the sentiment here. It is a big secret over at Papertrey. However, I did call Stampin' Up! because they have the same or very similar in their new stamp set. They were SO honest about what it was. THIS IS IMPRESSIVE and what I love about this company! They told me it is handwriting!!! So the mystery and the secret code has been cracked....ah ha!!! Thank You SU!!

{bragging rights} I thought the use of the hardward frames, front and back, at the top of the hanging {heart you} was quite brilliant!! Oh, this designer paper is so dreamy. I love all the glitz that came embedded on it! Saves me going through even more glitter than I usually do! And this ribbon....yum yum on all accounts! Can you believe the match with that SU button? Love all the different textures. This was a kinesthetic festival!! when I was creating it.

Even Law & Order took second place!

And that heart stamp from Stampin' Up! I LOVE it! What a fantastic thing...to carry all their flourishes right into the heart! It matches so many of the elements they have produced. I am beginning to really see how so many supplies co-ordinate and compliment...[even though many of mine are from contraband *wink wink* companies.]

But, be it as it may, this artist at work, it is the end product...ART IS TRUE LOVE IN ACTION...that guides my process.

I have to give Stampin' Up! a huge shout out for the Valentine's products.

They are stellar!

Have a great lovin' evening! {or morning, afternoon} depending on your location!!

...WELL NOR HADI...until I was glued to the shopping channel about 2 weeks ago. It is about the most exciting crafting machine I have used...since my last most exciting machine purchased for my craft room!!

A FELTING MACHINE!!!Yes, this is what I used on today's card. It is simply magic! First, you get a piece of felt - I cheated - I got 100% natural guilt stuffing (unbleached, processed etc.) and then lay your wool, thread, etc. on top however you like. Literally you can just drop it down! All kinds of colors on top of each other!!!

Then, you put your felt under these 5 barbed needles (the machine looks just like a regular sewing machine) and stitch away. There is no thread, no needle release or peddle, no bobbins etc...just 5 needles with a guard around them. The needles take the thread/wool and push fibres down into the felt and catch them into the micro fibres of the felt.

When you turn the felt over, after it is finished...magically, there is a colored design on the back. The wool has literally been burnished into the felt just by going over and over it with the needles! To today's card is my vewy vewy first time using it...and I think I'm in love!

.....about all the friendly, helpful, awesome, generous people in this world!

seguay:CINEMA SATURDAY'S CHALLENGE IS THE MOVIE AUSTRALIA

I've chosen to focus on most of the themes in the movie and bring it into "today's" current events, to take the elements that are present in the movie but look at the political climate, social climate and emotional climate in the global world today and offer up that they line up with what the movie Australia is all about -

VALUES, MORALS AND PRINCIPLES and RIGHT ACTION

[BACK TO ALL THE GENEROUS, AWESOME PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD...] In the last few days I feel as if they have all gathered in my small little spec on this earth and said "here I am!" From the Purolator Man (ahhhh stamping supplies) to my sump pump man (ugh, too much rain), to the Toshiba operator who just helped me with some screwy settings I put on my 'puter! It feels like the world just got a hit of "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands..." right after getting a hit of just the opposite! That ol' whipper snapper suffering/love metaphor again!

Are you experiencing this? Is the moon in the right place, are the stars lined up, has all the rain and all the snow [or all the sunshine] washed away the dulldrums? Or are we just feeling the larger community gratitude that is making it's way from country to country, city to city, door to door, room to room and person to person, as a consequence of the earthquake in Haiti. Have all the brothers and the sisters shown themselves? Are we really becoming a neighbourhood rather than JUST a world?

It has been awesome to watch the TV and see positive, up the spiral, nice, kind, helpful, encouraging and hopeful...to witness strength, abundance, resilance, determination, perseverance, and the comments about what a wonderful world we live in...to see people rise up and stand for something, AND to see people of all facets of lifebecomeONE, and put down their swords in pursuit of the same goal - TO STAND UP FOR LOVE!

I think God has been up-ta-good again....whatcha think? It can almost make you forget there ever was a time when it was hard...

...ON A SUNDAY AND A WEEK LATE! Oh well, the goddesses brooke and sankari will forgive me, please G-D, cuz they are just like that! I could not resist going forward with this challenge - for myself and for my son Jordan...rather than for the group challenge sake. Sorry girls...will catch you with this week's movie, which isAustralia - with the most ravishing Nicole Kidman. See Ya's Later folksies and remember...SQUISHY HUGS ALWAYS!

p.s. this is a pic of my oldest (24 year old) cub - Jordan - with his dad, back in the day - wayyyyy back, in Pictou Nova Scotia. i know, i know, he is adorable and totally squishable! Jordan I mean!!!!

xox

LOVINGLY MADE WITH...

EEK...I'm in the dog house today!!! All products are from a company I was [once upon a time] associated with. oopsi-daisy...gotta love your stash!

I met this wonderful womyn on Splitcoast Stampers the other day. Her name is Bonnie - (lovelightandpeace for those SCS users.) Well, she invited me to participate in this great thing called FAT BOOKS! I made 10 cards, mail them away and get 10 cards back. The group is made up of multi-crafted-artists so it is quite unpredictable what to expect. The only requirement is 6" x 6". I'm guessing this is why the books are called FAT BOOKS! Apparently, after not so long, once bound they get vewy vewy FAT!

So, being a card maker primarily, what you see for today's post is February's entry to our group (to which I am the Newbiest Newbie and already have the nerve to say "our"!!) The entry has to be "music." Hmmm. I think I hit the nail on the head. Feeling confident here. Next month's is Africanand so on and so on. Oh, another requirement, well, really a suggestion from my new friend...truly let the card rise from the depths of what is meaningful in that day.

For me, the craziness in the world right now - from the wonderment of the Olympics to the devastation of the Earthquake in Haiti....it all reminded me of the many and various parts in an Orchestra. One cannot work without the other unfortunately....Light and Darkness, Suffering and Love, Redemption and Sacrifice...They all seem (in my ears) to be the different instruments in a really well tuned Orchestra. The ebb and flow of Humanity, The Water, The Earth, The Wind and The Fire. My card for this month's FAT BOOK entry....MUSIC. SQUISHY HUGS and PRAYERS for HAITI.

Please double click photo to see the details. Thankz.

LOVINGLY MADE WITH.....

Stamp, Paper, Ink, Embossing Powder: Stampin' Up!

Pens to Color: Copics

Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug

Sentiment: Handmade with my computer

WISHING YOU A DAY of gratitude THAT INCLUDES A PRAYER for our next door neighbours IN HAITI. I HAVELOTS OF GRATITUDE AND HUGS FOR "YOU!!!" THANKS FOR OUR SAFETY G-D!

....WOW, IF YOU HAVEN'T BEEN THERE YET, HOP OVER TO PAPER PAL ARTS FOR SOME DELICIOUS CHOCOLATE INSPIRATION!!!

In theGRATITUDE WAY, I'd like to start with a REFLECTION honoring the GREAT ONE (no, not Wayne Gretsky...but close!.)

God in every breath

Dear G-d, be all my love, all my hope and all my endeavor;

let my thoughts and words emanate from you, let my daily

life be lived in you, and let every breath I take be filled

with joy for you. Amen

After St. John Cassian (c.360-435), Scythia

PICTURE FROM PAPER PAL ARTS CHALLENGE BLOG

The cards I made today were inspired by the wonderful picture above, from the PAPER PAL ARTS Challenge at http://www.paperpalarts.com/. Yummy in the Tummy eh? (The Chocolate I mean!!!)

Scroll down and peek at my cards now and then come back...the description that follows will then make more sense...

I used the ribbon for two different reasons.... the Chocolate and Blue layed downSatin Ribbon to represent the elegance of the chocolate decorations, and the Satin Ribbon bow to bring out the softness of the chocolate's wrapper. We all have our own imaginations right? The Riding Hood Red Paper (Butterfly Christmas Thank You's) was used to symbolize the razberry filling inside the chocolate (which I SO dream is in there!!) The Chocolate paper of course, speaks for itself. On the large card, I drew in additional swirls on the flutterby, which also has patterns to match the chocolate and blue ribbon (elegance) to represent the top of the chocolate and added tiny embossed red hearts to symbolize the giving of this chocolate for Valentine's Day.

Hey, when I used to eat chocolate...I always wanted this honkin' huge box of chocolates. I used to tell EVERYONE!!!! Hmmmm. Whatever happened there.

Oh, by the way, shhhhhhh! These two cards are for my older cubs, Jordan and Ayla. I'm still making one for my young cub Taylor. They are my Thank You cards to them for coming to the country to spend their little brother's birthday with him and their Holiday Celebrations with both of us so it could be OUR FAMILY HOLIDAY CELEBRATIONS!! Nothing better in the whole wide world!!! SQUISHY HUGS.

...SEEMS TO BE A NEW THING that I am reading about and hearing on the news. Does anyone know of someone who really did this? I can not imagine sitting at a table and eating and celebrating pretending that I know the happy couple! Can you?

I saw the movie years ago, and thought it was pretty funny...but didn't think it was now a trend! Oy Gavoy. The closest (and this was in my vewy vewy sneaky days) I ever got to such a thing was when my "to be husband" and I (aka know now as my cubs father) were in Florida for 6 weeks on vacation. Well, he had this amazing knack of taking $400.00 and having a $3,000.00 trip!

We stayed at this nice but very modest house we rented (I think for 500.00 for the 6 weeks!!) and ate every single dinner for FREE. Yes siree Bob....for free! In those days, this man (and I am afraid to ask my kids if he still does this now that immense success found its way to him) lived far below his means, which were pittens anyway. But we....HA! We lived like royalty! We hit every single Happy Hour in Florida and had the most amazing meals I could have imagined.

But then, and hold your hats, because this Chaplain was very naughty...we spent all day at The Fountain Bleu Hotel!!!Yes, the one Christine Argelara (sp) (I am sure to have spelled that wrong but I only sound these things out) sang on New Years...oh, I think Beyonce might have been there too. We just walked into the swim area, sat on a lounger and spent the day. Not a peep from anyone that there was a problem!

We did not lie, we did not cheat and we did not steal (well, kinda, maybe, sorta!....cuz I know G-d is reading this too!!!)

But, I hear these days....they are on to folk like we were, back in the day, 26 years ago! All this was to introduce a wedding card! Oy Vay. You can tell where my head's at! Really though, all kidding aside, my card is an entry for a sketch challenge at Splitcoast - SC263! SQUISHY HUGS.

Please double click for more detail.

LOVINGLY MADE WITH...

Paper:Cottage Wall (Stampin' Up!)

Ink:Old Olive, Purely Pomegranate (Stampin' Up!)

Accessories:Die Cut (Stash), Pearls (Stash) Punch (Stash)

This card is for Challenge SC263 at SCS.

Should you want further information regarding supplies, please EMAIL me.

My 12 year old and I went through all this history - incredible stories - letters from the war, labels, receipts, maps, insurance papers, market bills (written both in ink and pencil,) poetry written in ink and typed (on the oldies) and all kinds of things you can't even imagine!!

I completely encourage you to take a walk through this journey...even if you don't craft. It is just like being there.

Russell and Stan, of Twisted Papers, my son and I thank you. SQUISHY HUGS.

People can always be seen for the circumstances they "GROW." The apple doesn't fall far from the tree - and neither does the bad banana [ unless the banana has had lots of therapy!!] A very funny book, actually a really good book about beingHAPPY,from which I took today's meditation, is: LIFE LESSON #5... how to be HAPPY dammit - a cynic's guide to spiritual happiness, written by karen salmansohn.

By now, most of us know how to avoid bad banana people, even though that can sometimes be a chore.Sometimes, without even knowing it, we are a strawberry, sitting innocently in our fruit bowl and suddenly we become like a box of moldy raspberries...one moldy berry gets the next one moldy gets the next one moldy. What is the saying...."MISERY LOVES COMPANY"?

Well, it is important to reconsider asking these banana people in our lives for advice, how we are doing, whether they like something we have created or if we should take a certain job or not. They are not likely the one's who have our better interest at heart. Pop psychology has lead us to believe we need to 'struggle' to grow, need to 'hurt' to get ahead. Not so!! It is just as easy to grow with a smile on our face, with laughter in our belly, with "fresh fruit" on our table!

There are many people out there who are smiling!!! People who are happy as can be, see the joy in most things, have a kind word, an open heart and willing to give you the time of day and lots of love - free of judgement and condemnation. They are the people who will hear what you have to say - and not respond and "make it about them." They are the one's who you will leave the conversation "and feel happy, fulfilled, and have a general sense of well-being."

These are your fresh fruit people!!!

So when you are in the grocery store of people, take a good look for the fresh strawberry people, the shiny apple people, the beautiful pinapple people. They are the people who will bring balance to your life. They are the people who will help you through the day with a smile on your face and help you meet the hardships life tosses us. And when your fruit bowl starts to go moldy, don't fret, just pick up the phone and call one of your fresh fruit people. Ask them for some advice on what to do.

They are the one's who will help you discover the best fruit bowl for you!! SQUISHY HUGS.

Please double click photo for details

LOVINGLY MADE BY....

Paper:Kraft (Stampin' Up!)

Ink:Versamark

Stamps:Stash

Accessories:Rub On's (Stash), Die Cut (Stash)

For more information regarding the supplies used for this card, please EMAIL ME.

WHAT A MILESTONE!!! I am SO excited to play this challenge once again. To be inspired to make a card is one thing...but to do it from a MOVIE is exceptional! Congrats and Happies and Merries and Good Wishes and Bonani Versaire (oopsi daisy...i only "hear" french...i don't spell it...sorry!) and all the rest of the wonderful great things one can say on the week of Audrey's Birthday.

Sankari and Brooke...Her Majesty[s] of the Challenge, Thank you for your dedication and Good Will each week. Your cards are consistently gorgeous. How great that you are offering jump off starts this year for people who want a "beginning" point from which to create their card.

You Gals think of Everything!! So Here we Go.

Initially, I created a "Tiger" for this movie [thinking it was a Lion!] *Duh* As I said to Sankari, EVERYTHING TO ME IS A LION that is jungli and ROARI. This Leo {me} leans to the "big" cat creatures and their majesty, leadership, strength, confidence, wisdom, skills of observation...but mostly their ability to NURTURE, PROTECT, LOVE and SURVIVE under the most stringent of circumstances...putting their CUBS first and foremost AND THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT IS SO GREAT ABOUT THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA! You will see it all! Yup, a true Leo movie [whether you lov the leo's in your life or.....em....not!].

I totally encourage you to rent (Chronicles of Narnia or the Book Series) this movie [or tap into it on your 'puter] if you want a magical and mystical story about a child's imagination, persistence and perseverance. A connection between dual realities. And mostly, the power between the animal world and the human world....and what an unrivalling force "the willingness TO BELIEVE can be."SQUISHY HUGS.